Shabby

November 29, 2010

I'm a big fan of subtle stamped nails. One way of achieving a subtle result is using colours lying close to each other (duh!) like the combination above.

This is three coats of China Glaze - Secret Peri-Wink-Le and I stamped with an image from Konad imageplate M64. The polish I used for stamping is China Glaze - 2NITE. That one is ah-ah-awesome for stamping! And awesome in every other way. ♥

November 26, 2010

Although I like to wear all kinda crazy colours on my nails, I have to admit: sometimes I like to have my nails (almost) naked. Fresh and simple.. Today is one of those days. I did use a Nail Whitener from Etos (a Dutch drugstore brand), because my nails are a bit stained and it gives a shine. It's an old bottle, but it works like a charm!

Don't be afraid, tomorrow I'll dive into my evergrowing pile of nail polishes and look for some crazy polish to wear and show you.. :O

November 24, 2010

Today I tried something different on my nails. No nail polish, no! Nail stickers, from Essence. I like the idea of nail stickers, fun designs, no drying time: nice. I bought them quite a while ago and finally tried them. The design I used is called 12 Trust Me!.

Well, trust me, they suck! At least on my nails they do. The set contains 14 pieces so you can choose what size fits best on every nail. Sadly my nails are too small for most of the stickers, so I had to cut most of them. It says perfectly styled nails within seconds on the back. Hmm, I don't think so. When I finally got them on my nails I saw some tiny wrinkles and some other imperfections. Although I'm kinda perfectionistic I really wanted to give these stickers a chance. I started photographing my nails and noticed the sides of the stickers were curling up. That's it. Top innovation my *ss. That's not the 5 days lasting Essence promised... (not that I believe such promises in the first place ;) ).

November 23, 2010

I thought it would be fun to use a CND Effects polish. My first time using one! I applied one layer of Amethyst Sparkle on top of Yasmeen from Zoya. Not that I thought Yasmeen wasn't nice on its own by the way :O

Amethyst Sparkle adds a lot of purple and pink sparkles to the manicure, gorgeous! It's a great way of bringing your manicure alive again and giving it a little extra oomph. I like it!

November 21, 2010

Experiencing some Internet connection problems over here, that sucks big time! It's still not how it should be, so a quickie today, because uploading the pictures already took ages *wipes of forehead*.

This is Yasmeen from Zoya. Zoya's description of Yasmeen: "Dark blue-toned purple base with very strong red-toned medium purple shimmer and hints of gold duochrome. The ultimate complex purple for maximum drama".

I couldn't describe it better :D. The shimmer is awesome. In natural light the blue undertone is more visible (see pic below). And still that crazy rockin' shimmer, me likey! What's up with hidden shimmer in some polishes nowadays?! I want to see it. All the time. So YAY for Zoya! :D

November 17, 2010

I guess you guys have seen this one a gazillion times, this is DV8 from China Glaze. It's one of the polishes from the OMG collection, one of their best collections evah. I say: 'HOLO' (well, actually the correct term is prismatic, but you know wat I mean... ). I think the turquoise colour combines perfectly with the holo rainbows! The next time I will wear it on a sunny day though. 8)

Application was not so nice, but that's my fault. I already applied basecoat and that's a no-no with these kind of polishes (hello bald spots!). After two coats de result was nice and opaque though. I skipped the topcoat, because it can dull the prismatic effect and we wouldn't want that, do we? Polishes like these are great when you're in a hurry, just two thin layers on bare nails and you're ready to go. And it dries very fast! On some nail blogs I read that the OMG polishes chip easily, but my experience with the wear is good, still no chips. :D

November 16, 2010

Today I was in the mood for a party polish :D So I have a very glittery one for you to look at today, Nubar - Prize from the Prisms Collection. The colour is fab! An intense juicy raspberry colour with chunky prismatic glitter in it. Lots of chunky glitter. That's why I wanted to take this polish off as soon as possible. The result is sooo gritty, I kept applying layers of topcoat, but as soon as the topcoat was dry all I could see was a bumpy surface. Bummer! I want a glossy even result *stamps feet* (but hey, that's me... :i).

November 15, 2010

I was wondering what Lunar Eclipse (Orly) would look like matte. Well, it looks awesome! The result is so soft and intense... Actually it's more of a suede finish than really matte.

I used the matte topcoat from Diamond Cosmetics. The application was smooth, I used two thin coats. If you want a super-matte result from a topcoat, maybe this isn't the one for you. Luckily there is quite a bunch of matte topcoats available at te moment :)

November 14, 2010

When I got my bottle of Lunar Eclipse from the Orly Cosmic FX collection I was so happy with the duochrome I saw in it. In the bottle you can see a really vibrant indigo with blue and pink particles and a purple flash. I read on other nail blogs that the purple didn't show up on the nail that well.. That's often (if not always) the case with duochromes; in the bottle they're so colourful and gorgeous, but when you put it on your nails it's always a little bit disappointing. I can't believe I did it again! ..buying a duochrome polish because it looks sooo nice in the bottle.. xo

Anyway, I was warned about the disappearing purple. So I thought layering Lunar Eclipse on top of a purple could help the purple of LE to come out better. First I applied China Glaze - Grape Pop, then I added two layers of Lunar Eclipse on top of that. The result is stunning! Most cameras have trouble capturing purple, so has mine. It took me some effort (and a couple of hundred photo's ;)) to get the purple on the pics. In real life it's even more visible!

November 11, 2010

Today I have a polish from Barry M for you to look at. It's called Dusky Mauve (I like that name!), a dark taupe with violet shimmer. The shimmer isn't that visible in low light actually, but under bright light it's clearly visible and gorgeous. Of course the sun was shy when I was ready to photograph my nails, but let me say that this polish will surprise you on a sunny day! :O

The application was very nice, two coats were enough for an opaque finish.

November 4, 2010

When I caught myself staring (again!) at the ombre nails I did yesterday I got the idea to spice them up a bit. Therefore I used Essence Glisten Up, what a masterpiece! Flakies and glitter, you can't go wrong with those. :tup for Essence! I hope they keep making polishes like this one... Glisten Up is very sheer, so I recommend layering it. As you can see it shows best on top of a dark(er) polish, like P2-Dangerous on my pinkie.

Although it isn't the most ombre-like mani, I really like the result! It's also very fun to do; looking and testing what polishes would be nice together. If you're slow in picking up trends like me and haven't tried this mani yet, you should! :i